


Stay With Me

by assassin_trifecta



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Kissing, Minor pining, Past implied Ser Gilmore/Female Cousland, and pining, it's all just kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:31:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7065340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assassin_trifecta/pseuds/assassin_trifecta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Feelings change over time, and the friendship that was once between them simmers into something more. Ileanna has confided too much, invested more than she thought she would into the Antivan Crow she came to call her best friend. She loves him, but she still grieves for a past that won't leave her behind. She doesn't tell him, but she does show him something more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay With Me

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt meme on tumblr, for my very gifted friend preparetobeboarded between my warden and their Zevran.

Ileanna never remembered being attracted to Zevran. He was smaller than she was, more seductive and secretive. These, of course, were all truths for most men that Ileanna met, and while she could easily look them over in other gentlemen, the fact that he was originally sent to kill her didn’t help Zevran’s case that much. That, and the reality that Ileanna had only ever had feelings for one man before. And he was gone.

            But Zevran had always been there. He’d been her friend, and they had accepted together that there was nothing more between them. She confided in him. About her family and their end. About her life before the Blight and how she missed it so terribly that her chest ached at night. On more than one occasion, he’d offered to massage it for her, bringing out the laughter once again. She even went so far as to tell him of her old affection to a knight sworn to Highever’s service. Zevran had understood, and that was when they had decided as friends to simply stay that way. She was grieving. He wouldn’t take advantage of her.

            It was a surprise to him that she had been a voracious flirt, in her day. Back before the war ever started and she had fewer things to worry about than the safety of an entire nation and the restoration of her family’s honor. She told him of the tricks she used to pull on her suitors, of the batting eyelashes and the stolen kisses and hinting words. She didn’t seem the type, he’d always told her. But after a few months he started to see it. The eyelashes bat once more, and the giggles returned and she’d glance at him in such a way that touched his heart. Though, with Ileanna, it felt more like a punch than a caress.

            So when she invited him to speak with her in her tent one night, he wasn’t concerned. They were friends, and they’d spoken often of the past and of her trials. This was a common occurrence, and it was far too cold this night to stay out in the central camp and speak. They hadn’t spoken all day, but she was busy, and their conversations often lasted well into the night. He was unconcerned

            Until he pulled back her tent flap and saw her standing, almost pacing in the confined space. She looked distressed, moreso than she had been moments before when she invited him. She’d stripped off her armor and was down to her underclothes, a plain tunic and soft leather trousers. He could see the fabric of her tunic shaking, and for a moment he wondered if she had actually been weeping.

            “Ileanna?” He asked, his tone concerned. “Are you alright?”

            “Zevran!” She practically jumped out of her own skin, but Zevran was just relieved that she seemed nervous and not in distress. “Oh, um, please – come in,” she gestured at the small space around her. “I’d, uh – I – I’d like to speak with you.”

            “What is it, dear friend? You seem nervous.”

            Ileanna didn’t answer. She took the one step required to reach him, towering over him briefly before reaching up one hand up to gently cup his cheek, the other sliding around the back of his neck to pull him closer to her, tilting his head up. She hesitated when they were mere inches apart, but she needn’t have. He met her half way, their lips sealing together in a gentle, careful kiss. Her nerves were worse than he initially thought – the moment they made contact, she practically melted against him, her hand leaving his face so that she could wrap it around his waist.

            Zevran hummed into the kiss, sliding his hands to her hips. This was a surprise, but not one that he would complain about.

            When she broke from him, a moment too soon for his liking, her cheeks were flushed in embarrassment and thrill, a nervous giggle spilling from newly swollen lips. She didn’t part far from him, and she didn’t let go.

            “Stay with me.” Ileanna breathed, her chest rising and falling rapidly as the nerves built up again. “Zevran, please… stay with me?”

            Zevran smiled as he pulled her down for another kiss.

            “Oh, my dear Lily,” he whispered against her lips, leading her back to her bedroll step by careful step. “You never had to ask.”


End file.
